


Day 4 - Hogwarts AU

by StarshipHufflebadger



Series: Sanvers Week [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Day 4, F/F, Gen, Hogwarts AU, Quidditch, Sanvers Week, alex the hufflepuff, maggie the slytherin, supergirl - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-18
Updated: 2017-07-18
Packaged: 2018-12-03 22:13:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11541477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarshipHufflebadger/pseuds/StarshipHufflebadger
Summary: Alex and Maggie are on opposing Quidditch teams and meet formally for the first time after a Quidditch accident lands them both in the hospital wing.





	Day 4 - Hogwarts AU

             It was the last game of the season.  Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin.  Somehow Hufflepuff had managed to nab second place so far, with only Slytherin ahead of them, mostly thanks to the new set of chasers on Slytherin’s team, and the new seeker on Hufflepuff’s.   Slytherin was only seventy points ahead of Hufflepuff – meaning that if the Hufflepuff seeker caught the snitch first, they’d win the Quidditch Cup for the first time in decades.

              Alex, Hufflepuff’s new seeker, was alternating between slightly obnoxious overconfidence and crippling self doubt from all the pressure. She was a tall and slim fifth year, but she packed quite a punch and had proven herself to be an excellent seeker. She’d caught the snitch in only a few minutes during the Ravenclaw game, with the Ravenclaw seeker looking on in horrified shock as she rose into the air with it clutched in her palm.  When they’d played Gryffindor, she’d managed to win a lengthy race across the pitch against the Gryffindor seeker, grabbing for it at the same second.  Her fingers had closed around the snitch, his closing around her clenched fist instead. She smiled at the memory, remembering how the Gryffindor seeker had cursed and dived off in a huff, leaving her to do a victory lap around the pitch with her cheering team.

              Presently, she was in the Hufflepuff changing room, strapping on her protective gear and taking a few deep breaths, removed from her teammates’ excited chatter, though they tried to get her involved.  They were full of nervous energy; it had been so long since Hufflepuff had won a cup that her teammates seemed to vibrate with excitement and determination.   She was feeling a little sick to her stomach as she pulled on her wrist guards, strapping them into place and taking another deep breath.  She had a desperate, fierce desire to win, as she was competitive by nature and she wanted more than anything for Hufflepuff to finally get some well-deserved glory, but she was terrified about how much of the pressure to win lay on her own shoulders.  She was worried that if she screwed this up, her House would never forgive her or worse; she would never forgive herself.

              Madam Hooch’s whistle blew just outside the door to the changing room and she shouldered her broom, forcing herself to smile and nudge back as her teammates surrounded her, jostling her in their excitement as all seven of them headed out to the edge of the pitch.

              “Alright badgers,” the Captain said, as the Slytherin team lined up at the edge of their side of the pitch.  “We can do this.  Let’s DO this!  For Hufflepuff!”

              “For Hufflepuff!” they yelled back, raising their brooms in the air.  Alex’s heart swelled with fear but a healthy dose of excitement as well as they all mounted their brooms and took to the air together, the cheers from their house and others swelling around them.

              Alex breathed deeply as the cool air rushed past her face, clearing her thoughts as the thrill of flying flooded her.  She’d never really got used to that first lift off of the day – it was always so exhilarating, so freeing, that any bad thing she was feeling just melted away.  She soared upwards until she was a good ten metres straight above the triangle formation of the chasers, the beaters hovering, one on each side, at the same level below her.  Their golden cloaks shone brightly in the morning light and Alex could feel the determination of her team.  Now that they were in the air, the nervousness had gone, replaced by only a fierce excitement and determination to win.   Alex watched as the Slytherin team took their positions opposite them, their emerald cloaks fluttering in the breeze as they tried to intimidate the Hufflepuffs, staring them down.  Alex looked evenly across at the Slytherin seeker, who happened to be one of her good friends, trying not to smile at him.  She was determined to beat him, friends or not, and he knew it very well.

              “I’m gonna break your winning streak, Danvers,” he called in a taunting voice, grinning at her.  “No way you’re getting the snitch first.”

              “You’ll be eating your words later, Olsen,” Alex shot back, smirking.  “You don’t stand a chance!”

              “Quiet up there!” Madam Hooch had appeared in the space between the trios of chasers and was glaring up at them.  Alex stifled a laugh as James’ reply died mid-word and they both looked down. Madam Hooch opened up the trunk she was carrying under her arm and Alex and James both watched intently as the snitch was released, flying up past their heads before streaking off down the pitch and disappearing into distance.  Alex gripped the handle of her broom tightly, nearly twitching with the desire to shoot after it, but she managed to stay still.

              “I want a clean game from all you,” Madam Hooch shouted at them, as she always did to every team.  They all murmured their agreement and after a moment, she launched the quaffle into the air and the game began.

              Immediately, Alex shot off in the direction that the snitch had gone, with James hot on her tail.  She soared around the pitch in a wide arc, her eyes peeled, searching the goalposts, the stands, near the ground.  She mostly tuned out the commentary;  it was not yet important for her to pay attention to the score with the fact that Slytherin would have to be at least eighty points ahead before catching the snitch would be a problem.  

              She skimmed along not too far above the stands, waving distractedly as she flew over the Hufflepuffs and they cheered for her, though her mind was focused solely on locating that little golden orb.  Alex laughed as she heard a couple of voices screaming her name as she zipped by, picturing her sister and her friends jumping up and down, but she had no eyes for Kara right now.   She heard a distinct whistling as she neared the Ravenclaw stands and glanced down to see Winn and Lena cheering her on as well.  Grinning, she put on a burst of speed and soared high above the others, scanning the game, taking bracing breaths to keep herself calm as she searched.  

              Finally, she spotted it: a golden glint near the Slytherin goalposts, very close to their keeper, who was completely oblivious to the tiny snitch dancing around near her ankle.  Alex shot towards it, her hair whipping behind her as she accelerated, and she sensed rather than saw James turn and speed in the same direction. She wasn’t sure if he’d seen it too or he was just following her, but either way, she was going to get there first. She was almost there.  The keeper had noticed her and moved out of the way, alarmed at the speed with which Alex was approaching.

              “LOOK OUT!” screamed one of her team’s beaters, and Alex tore her gaze from the snitch to see a bludger barreling towards her. Swearing, she pulled hard on her broom handle and shot upwards, the bludger plowing through the air where her face had just been.  Cheers from the Slytherin end for their beater’s well-aimed bludger were deafening as Alex looked around wildly and realized the snitch had disappeared.   Swearing loudly again, Alex darted out of the way as a gaggle of chasers approached and took to doing another wide sweep of the pitch, trying to calm her racing heart.  She was full of adrenaline from nearly catching the snitch and her hands shook a bit as she searched.

              “Slytherin 30, Hufflepuff 20!” Alex glanced around as the Slytherins cheered again, their chasers having just beaten Hufflepuff’s keeper. Her eyes lingered briefly on one of the Slytherin chasers; a smaller girl, with a mane of dark hair and beautiful olive skin.  She was grinning and high fiving one of the other chasers, though Alex could see a fierce determination much like her own in the girl’s eyes as she set off in pursuit of the quaffle again. Alex couldn’t quite remember her name – Sawyer? Sander?  Something about the girl had distracted her so much that she realized she’d slowed to a snail’s pace, having completely forgotten about the snitch.  Shaking herself, Alex blinked and shot off towards the Hufflepuff end of the pitch, plummeting several meters to dodge another bludger that came shooting towards her, and doing a high speed turn at the end of the pitch, letting off some of her nerves.

              When she reached the middle of the pitch and looked down, her heart leapt into her throat.  There it was again!  She grinned and angled her broom downwards, glancing around her, and saw James spot it at nearly the same moment.  She crouched as low to her broom as she could and shot down at a forty-five degree angle, pelting towards the snitch faster than she’d ever flown before.  Her eyes were streaming from the intensity of the air hitting them and she clutched her broom to avoid falling, but she was easily outstreaking James, who was still several meters behind her and not gaining on her, though she knew he was trying.  

              She was nearly there.  It was so close now, only a little farther.  She reached out, her fingers stretched wide, her other hand clinging tightly to the broom for balance.  Seconds later the tips of her fingers touched the cold metal, but the snitch suddenly swerved and she was unable to grasp it.  Moving smoothly and swerving to follow it, Alex’s fingers had just begun to curl around the little gold ball when several screams of warning caught her attention.

              Alex looked up, her eyes wild and alarmed, just in time to see one of the Slytherin chasers, her head turned to look behind her as she received a quaffle pass, heading straight for her.  They were both going far too fast to avoid each other and before Alex could even attempt to swerve, they collided.   An echoing thud sounded around them along with a shriek of pain and surprise from each as they slammed into each other in a tangle of limb. Alex’s fist closed around the snitch, but she lost her grip on her broom as the other girl crashed directly into her arm, snapping her wrist and sending the broom spiraling away.   Their heads knocked together as they tried to scramble away from each other, Alex groping uselessly for the other girl’s broom, hoping it could keep them both airborne, but they were plummeting like bricks, the girl unable to control the broom while they were tangled together.  

              “Let go!” the girl yelled, pushing on Alex’s shoulder as Alex attempted to grab onto the broom with her injured arm, yelping in pain as she realized it was broken.  

              “My broom is gone!” Alex shouted back, desperately trying to cling to anything she could reach, but she’d squirmed enough that she was no longer fully tangled up with the girl and was starting to fall.  Realizing this, the Slytherin chaser reached down and grabbed the back of Alex’s robes, trying to hold onto her as they spiralled downwards, desperately trying to pull them out of the dive, but the broom had many snapped twigs now and was flying erratically.

              “Brace yourself!” yelled the Slytherin girl and Alex cringed as the ground approached far more quickly than she’d ever have liked.  Both girls screamed as they crashed into the grass, the chaser’s leg’s colliding first before the broom snagged and flung them both to the side.  Alex landed on her back and rolled several times from the momentum, smacking her head on the ground on the third roll, which instantly knocked her unconscious, blood trickling down her face from a cut on her forehead.  The Slytherin girl too had bounced and rolled, and when she’d stopped she also lay still, her leg twisted at a weird angle.   There was a collective, horrified gasp from nearly the entire stands as the students looked down and saw both girls lying motionless on the pitch.  Even though the snitch was caught, still struggling uselessly pinned beneath Alex’s limp hand, the Hufflepuffs only half-cheered.  Despite the fact that they’d just won the Quidditch Cup for the first time in more than thirty years, they were more concerned about the fate of their seeker.  The Slytherins too, though angry at their defeat, looked horrified and worried about their chaser more than anything.

              James landed between them just as Madam Hooch had hurried over with several students who often helped out in the Hospital Wing.  The Slytherin girl was moaning softly and her eyes were closed, too dazed to speak, and Alex was out cold, her body limp, tangled in her golden cloak.  The rest of the Hufflepuff and Slytherin teams gathered around them, the Hufflepuffs with expressions of exhilaration from their win and horror as they looked down at their unconscious seeker.  

              “Is she okay?” the Hufflepuff keeper asked worriedly, as Madam Hooch and one of the students lifted her onto the stretcher with their wands and settled her there, the student curling her fingers around the snitch so Alex could continue to hold onto it.

              “They will be fine,” said Madam Hooch shortly, but not unkindly. “Now make way,” she ordered, after the Slytherin chaser had been moved to a stretcher as well, looking extremely pale and sweaty, likely from the pain of her broken leg.    The two teams parted to let the stretchers, Madam Hooch, and the students pass, following them out to the edge of the pitch and then watching as they disappeared into the distance up the hills towards the castle.

————-

              The Slytherin girl, Maggie, woke first, blinking her eyes sluggishly and slowly forcing herself to sit up.  The was a throbbing pain in her left leg and an aching in her arms; she looked down to see them covered with bruises and cuts, presumably from how she’d rolled.  She noticed that she was wearing a pair of her own pyjamas and was wondering how long she’d been out when Madam Pomfrey appeared in the doorway to the wing.

              “Oh, good, you’re awake, it’s time for your next dose of Skele-gro.”  Madam Pomfrey bustled over with a small bottle of the stuff and Maggie grimaced in response, earning her a tutting from the nurse.  “Now now, just drink it up.  Your break is not that bad so you only have a quarter dose compared to some students I’ve had.  Why, Harry Potter once-”

              “Had to regrow all the bones in his arm because of an incompetent teacher, yeah, I know the story,” Maggie said wearily, accepting the goblet from the nurse and earning herself another disapproving look. Sighing, Maggie prepared herself for a moment before throwing back the Skele-gro, choking a little at the foul taste, but keeping it all down.

              “Good girl,” Madam Pomfrey said, though she still sounded somewhat irritated.  “You have eight hours until your next dose.  Try to get some rest.”   Maggie nodded and lay back against her pillows, reaching for a glass of water in an attempt to wash away the taste of the medicine.  She glanced around as Madam Pomfrey checked on the girl lying in the bed next to her, who still seemed unconscious.

              “Is she okay?” Maggie asked, nodding to the girl lying there.

              “She’ll be fine,” Madam Pomfrey said, her voice a little softer now.  “You both will be, you just need rest.”  The matron smoothed the Hufflepuff’s blankets and then headed out of the room, leaving the two of them alone.

              Maggie looked over at the girl curiously.  The collision had happened so fast and suddenly that Maggie hadn’t even absorbed who had hit her, but she saw now that it was that Danvers girl, the new seeker hotshot that the Hufflepuff team had seemingly found out of nowhere.  Maggie had seen her around before, and had admired her skill during her games against Gryffindor and Ravenclaw.  The girl had seemed friendly but cocky, beaming and cheering raucously after the two matches, pumping her fist in the air.  Now, though, lying still on her bed, her face turned towards Maggie;  she looked pale and fragile, nothing like the speed demon she was in the air.    Maggie also couldn’t help but notice that despite the large bruise forming on her cheek and the cut on her forehead, she was really very pretty.

              Maggie cleared her throat and looked away immediately as Alex’s face scrunched a little and she sighed softly, shifting a bit before her eyes began to slowly open.  Alex’s eyes fluttered open but she had to blink several times to clear her vision, groaning a little as the pain returned quickly to her head, a strong aching emanating from the goose egg under her hair.    She reached up to touch it and let out a soft “ow!”, pulling her hand away immediately. She noticed that her other arm was wrapped tightly in a cloth bandage from the middle of her fingers to the middle of her forearm, and her arm was support across her belly by a sling tied around the back of her neck.  Groaning softly again, Alex shifted in bed until she was propped up a little better, peering around blearily.  She turned her head to the side and saw Maggie lying there in her own bed and squinted at her.

              “Did we die?”  Alex asked, her voice a bit hoarse.  Maggie snorted, turning to look at the girl.

              “No, though I  _did_  think you were trying to kill me before I realized you’d lost your broom.”

              “Oh.  Sorry about that,” Alex said, wincing as her head started throbbing.  She pushed herself into a half-sitting, half-lounging position and looked over at Maggie properly.  “Wait, didn’t  _you_  crash into  _me_?”

              “No!” Maggie said indignantly, firing up and pushing herself into a sitting position again.  “You flew right across my path, Danvers, it was impossible to avoid you!”

              “Technically you flew right into my path too,” Alex pointed out, feeling a lick of her own temper rising.  “Were you trying to stop me from catching the snitch?”

              “No!  I was trying to catch the damn quaffle!”  Maggie looked highly offended now.  “I would never check the seeker.  Some Slytherins may play dirty, Danvers, but I’m not one of them.”  Maggie crossed her arms and scowled at the opposite wall, looking extremely irritated.

              Alex regarded her curiously, at the passion with which she’d spoken.  She knew full well that Slytherins were always getting a bad rep and everyone always assumed they were up to no good.  She was also well aware that many of the Slytherins were great people, clever and ambitious, with not a mean bone in their body.

              “Alright, you’re probably right,” Alex admitted, which got the other girl to look back at her, at least.  “I wasn’t watching where I was going, I just wanted to get that snitch so badly.”

              “Clearly,” Maggie huffed irritably, though she looked somewhat mollified.  

              “I’m Alex Danvers,” Alex said.  “We’ve never formally met, though James said you’re a great chaser.”

              “Maggie Sawyer,” Maggie replied, acknowledging her with a nod. “Yeah, Olsen’s a good guy.”  They fell silent for a moment, before Alex started thinking over the last few minutes she remembered before blacking out and gasped out loud, making Maggie jump a bit.

              “Wait, who won?!  Did I actually catch the snitch?!  I can’t remember!”  Alex frowned, trying to remember, but all she could recall was reaching for the golden ball before smashing into the other girl. She tried hard but just couldn’t remember anything beyond the panic of plummeting to the earth and then being knocked out.

              “I… actually don’t know either,” Maggie admitted, frowning. “I was too absorbed with trying to keep you from falling and keep us in the air to listen to anything else going on.”

              “Thank you for that, by the way,” Alex said, forcing herself to ignore her frantically beating heart as she wondered who had won.  Had she managed to snag they win they’d wanted so badly?  Or had she failed when she’d smashed into Maggie?  She could see James in her mind, triumphantly capturing the snitch in his long fingers as she plummeted to the ground, empty handed.  The image filled her with frustration and she looked around, wondering where Madam Pomfrey was.  As though summoned by her thoughts, the matron suddenly appeared in the doorway to her office, looked around and made immediately for their beds when she saw that Alex was awake.

              “Yeah, no problem,” Maggie said, a little gruffly.  “I wasn’t going to let you fall once you said your broom was gone.”

              Before Alex had a chance to reply Madam Pomfrey had arrived, and immediately began fussing over her.   Alex opened her mouth to ask the matron who had won the game, only to have a thermometer stuck into it, the matron shushing her.   Unimpressed, Alex sat still long enough for her temperature to be taken, talking immediately once the thermometer was out of her mouth.  

              “Miss, did Hufflepuff win the game?  I don’t remember, I need to know!”

              “Did Slytherin win?!” Maggie asked eagerly, at the same time.

              “Girls, your health should be more important to you right now,” Madam Pomfrey chided, and Alex and Maggie exchanged a look, rolling their eyes. “But I think you’ll find the answer lies on your bedside table,” she told Alex, who looked around wildly, nearly keeling over as a wave of dizziness hit her from the sudden movement.  Madam Pomfrey clucked disapprovingly and put a hand on Alex’s shoulder to steady her as Alex’s gaze landed on the small golden ball sitting on the little table, its surface glinting in the sunlight streaming through the window, its wings bent from the tight grip Alex had had on it.

              “YES!” she cheered, lunging forward and grabbing the snitch from her table and examining it as it fluttered its broken wings a little pathetically.

              “Congratulations, Danvers,” Maggie said, looking unhappy, but unsurprised.  

              Madam Pomfrey shushed them both again and began examining Alex, prodding gently at her head and forcing her to drink a dose of Skele-gro for her wrist before shuffling off again, ordering the two of them to sleep.

              Alex was still gagging a little when the matron closed the door to her office, and Maggie chuckled sympathetically.

              “Pretty nasty stuff, eh?” she commented, and Alex nodded, retching a little.  “Yeah, I got a dose while you were out, too.”

              “Are you okay?” Alex asked, realizing she hadn’t yet asked how the other girl was, suddenly feeling guilty.  It’d been mostly Alex’s fault, after all, that they were both in here.

              “Broken leg and some bruises and cuts,” Maggie said, shrugging. “I’ve had worse.  You?”

              “Well, aside from my “wretched head injury” according to Madam Pomfrey, my wrist is broken and I’ve got bruises and cuts too.  I’ve also had worse.”

              They looked at each other for a moment, before Maggie’s somewhat stony expression softened.

              “I meant that congratulations, Danvers.  You’re a really good seeker.”  Alex felt her face redden and smiled, ducking her head a little at the compliment, embarrassed.

              “I’d be a better seeker if I’d been able to catch the snitch and not grievously injure another player in the meantime,” Alex said ruefully, turning the snitch over in her fingers.  

              “Ah well, it happens,” Maggie shrugged, waving away her guilt.

              “You’re a really good chaser,” Alex offered after a moment, looking over at her.  “I was watching you, I saw you score two of the three Slytherin goals.”   There was silence for a moment as Maggie digested this, then looked over at her, a strangely amused look on her face.

              “You were  _watching_ me, Danvers?  Weren’t you supposed to be watching the snitch?”  Alex’s eyes widened and she mouthed wordlessly for a moment, her cheeks, already pink, darkening more.

              “I, uh, that’s not what- I meant I  _saw_  you score a couple of times, I-”  Alex fumbled for words, flustered as Maggie smiled at her genuinely for the first time, and Alex’s heart fluttered wildly as she took in the radiance of it, and oh,  _those dimples_.  “I-I wasn’t  _watching_ you…”

              “Uh-huh,” Maggie nodded, clearly trying not to laugh, her voice filled with a delicate skepticism.  “Alright, I get it, you weren’t watching me.”

              “Right,” Alex agreed, though cursing herself because even her voice had sounded unsure.  Maggie laughed softly as Alex stared resolutely down at the snitch she was still holding in her hands.  Maggie allowed Alex a few moments to get her feelings in order before she spoke again.

              “So, what classes are you in this year?”

              Relieved, Alex listed off her classes (Potions, Arithmancy, Defense, Astronomy, Charms, Transfiguration, and Care of Magical Creatures).  They went back and forth, discussing classes for a while, before the chatter moved on to their friends, their quidditch experiences, and their families.  They were lost to the world for hours, just talking, and each found themselves opening up to the other about things they rarely talked about, which both of them were supremely surprised by.

              Madam Pomfrey regularly interrupted them, and they bonded further over the nastiness of the Skele-gro and through gently mocking the matron behind her back, muffling their giggles with their blankets as she peered at them through her office window, looking suspiscious.

              All in all, they were both in the hospital wing overnight and through the whole next day, by which time they were both getting incredibly fidgety.  Madam Pomfrey had banished all of their friends and teammates from the wing, insisting they needed rest and would see their friends soon enough.  She grudgingly allow both team captains to check on their players, but hovered around them the whole time, scowling, allowing them five minutes only.

              “You were amazing!” Hufflepuff’s captain, Barry, a skinny, excitable boy in the same year as Alex, clutched at her good hand, squeezing it.   “How are you feeling?  You didn’t do any permanent damage, did you?” he asked anxiously, looking at her bandaged arm in its sling.  Alex chuckled, patting him on the arm.

              “I’m fine, really,” she said, beaming up at him.  Before he really had a chance to say anything else, Madam Pomfrey was ushering them out the door.

              “The Quidditch Cup feast is tonight Alex!” Barry called as the matron escorted him and the Slytherin captain towards the door.  “And party in the common room after!”

              “Goodbye, Mr. Allen,” Madam Pomfrey said sharply as she closed the door behind him, Alex and Maggie attempting to hide their amusement as she stormed away, huffier than ever.  Any kind of noise and excitement in her hospital wing was clearly very aggravating to her and so they behaved themselves for the rest of the day, a little afraid she wouldn’t let them go to the feast if she thought they were being too rowdy.

              They spent the rest of the afternoon chatting in low whispers. Alex even got up and sat, cross-legged, on Maggie’s bed, so they could talk quieter and not attract the matron’s attention.  That was absolutely the only reason, Alex asserted to herself, it had nothing to do with the fact that she was feeling an irresistible draw towards Maggie, whom she’d discovered was not only pretty, but very smart and witty too, and had the ability to make Alex laugh seemingly without effort.

              Finally, it was late afternoon and Alex scrambled to get back into her own bed as Madam Pomfrey entered the wing again to give them their final assessments.  She forced Maggie to take one more sip of Skele-gro “just for insurance”, but deemed her otherwise fit to leave.  Maggie hovered uncertainly on the spot for a moment before smiling a little sadly at Alex, then making her way out of the room, just slightly favouring her recently mended leg.

              “Alright, dear, you’re free to go as well,” Madam Pomfrey told her, after unwrapping her wrist and testing her wrist and finger movements, which she was able to do without causing pain.  “But you are not to exert yourself after that head injury, do you hear me?  No quidditch for a least a week, and I want you to come back in two days so I can check you again.”

              “Yes Miss,” Alex said obediently, slowly standing as Madam Pomfrey nodded, patted her on the shoulder and walked away, straightening the blankets on Maggie’s vacated bed.  Alex grabbed the snitch from her bedside table and turned it over in her fingers as she walked away.  She couldn’t believe it, but she was already missing Maggie, despite the girl having been gone for all of three minutes.   Alex was worried that now they were better, Maggie would disappear back into her group of Slytherin friends and never speak to Alex again.  The thought made her far sadder than she’d expected, and there was a frown on her face as she pushed her way out the door, her eyebrows deeply furrowed.

              “Why so serious, Danvers?” Maggie’s voice interrupted her thoughts and Alex looked up, surprised.  “We’re free, there’s a feast in an hour, and  _you_  won Hufflepuff the Quidditch cup.  Why aren’t you smiling?”  Alex stared at her, barely hearing her words;  her heart was swelling with happiness as she looked at the other girl, who was leaning against the wall, having clearly stopped to wait for her.

              “You waited for me?” Alex asked, her voice full of surprised incredulity, and Maggie looked vaguely surprised at Alex’s surprise, frowning slightly before smiling.

              “’Course I did,” Maggie said, pushing off of the wall and joining Alex.  They began to walk, Alex unconsciously slowing her pace for Maggie, who was still limping a little.    The simple fact that Maggie had waited for her and not just immediately disappeared to be with her own House filled Alex with warmth, and though they didn’t talk much as they slowly descended the stairs, heading for the Entrance Hall, Alex felt like they were growing closer.  The thought made her a little giddy, which made her a little confused, but mostly she was simply happy that she had made a new friend.

              They stopped in front of the junction between two hallways in the entrance hall: one lead down into the dungeons and to the Slytherin common room, and the other down a shallower staircase, to the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room.

              “See you in a bit, Danvers,” Maggie said.  To Alex’s utter surprise, Maggie took Alex’s hand briefly, Alex’s automatically curling around hers, squeezed it briefly, then let go. Maggie winked at her, smiling at the blank look on Alex’s face, and then limped off down the stairs towards the dungeon. Alex stood there for several long moments, her hand tingling where Maggie had squeezed it, her thoughts crashing around confusingly in her head.

              It wasn’t until a few housemates of her spotted her standing there and jovially descended on her (scaring the daylights out of her as a consequence of being lost in her suddenly emotional incomprehension), that Alex began to move again, allowing her friends to steer her back to their common room.  There was a burst of cheers as she walked through the door from the students that had not yet left for dinner, and she smiled and thanked them in a bit of a daze, eventually making her way down the hallway to the girl’s dorm so she could change into her robes for dinner.  

              When she emerged, most of the students had disappeared from the common room to go to the feast, and she was grateful for the lack of attention as she made her way back out of the common room and up the stairs, straightening her tie and smoothing her hair.  She peeked into the Great Hall, trying to avoid being seen, and scanned the Slytherin table, but there was no sign of Maggie yet.  Alex leaned against the wall near the door to the Great Hall, twirling her wand idly as she waited, chatting to a few of the Hufflepuffs that were hanging around and had joined her.  There was a small group of Slytherins nearby as well, and it took a while before Alex heard their low, angry tones and realized they were glaring daggers at her and muttering.  She frowned and looked away, but she could still see them out of the periphery of her vision and couldn’t stop herself from straining to hear what they were saying.   The odd phrase or words floated to her, including “stupid bitch” “reckless cow” and “what do you expect, she’s just a stupid Hufflepuff”.  Feeling both hurt and angry, she glared over at them as her fellow Hufflepuffs realized they were talking about their seeker and became angry, turning towards the Slytherins and forming a wall in front of Alex with their bodies, as though to shield her from their dirty looks.

              “Piss off, duffers,” one of the Slytherins snickered, seeing that all of the Hufflepuffs present were now facing them, looking angry.   “Stop protecting your seeker, she’s a cheating cow.”   Several of the Hufflepuffs growled in response to this but Alex pushed through them, stepping out in front of her friends.

              “How am I a cheater?” she demanded angrily.  “I caught the snitch fair-”

              “No you didn’t!” one of the other Slytherins chimed in, pointing her finger accusingly.  “You wanted the snitch so badly you were willing to take out one of our chasers to do it instead of going around her.  It’s illegal to purposely body slam someone like that, you know,” she sneered.

              “I didn’t do it on purpose!” Alex said indignantly.  “I honestly didn’t see her until it was too late-” she was cut off by the sneers and jeers of the Slytherins who clearly didn’t believe her, and she felt her hands starting to shake as both anger and upset filled her.

              “Your chaser is the one that body checked  _her_!” one of her friends snarled, pointing her finger at the Slytherins.  “Your chaser is the cheater, trying to stop us getting the snitch!”  

              “What? No, that’s not-” Alex tried to say.  She appreciated that her friends were on her side, but she didn’t want them thinking that Maggie had crashed into her on purpose. “Guys, it really was an accident!”

              “I bet it wasn’t,” said of the other Hufflepuffs, a seventh year she didn’t know very well.  “I’ve seen Slytherins cheat in Quidditch for years, the chaser definitely smashed into you on purpose!”

              “No, she didn’t!” Alex tried to protest, but was drowned as the Slytherins started shouting at the Hufflepuffs, and her housemates shouted back in kind.  Feeling helpless to stop the shouting match and horribly in the middle of everything, Alex was just considering skipping the feast all together and running back to the common room when a shout echoed around them.

              “Hey!  Break it up, assholes!”  Maggie came into view suddenly at the top of the staircase leading from the dungeons, and she looked angry.  Though she was rather smaller than most of the students standing there, there was enough authority in her voice that everyone fell silent, much to Alex’s relief. Maggie had clearly heard enough of the shouting to understand what was going on and she moved forward with purpose, scowling at both the Hufflepuffs surrounding Alex and the group of Slytherins, who looked suddenly overjoyed at her presence.  

              “They were trying to say you fouled their seeker on purpose, Sawyer,” said a smug looking sixth year Slytherin boy, smirking at Alex. “You can clear up the details, now that you’re here.”

              “Can it, Lord,” snapped Maggie, glaring at the boy, who scowled, his lips pressed into a thin, irritated line.  Maggie looked over at Alex, whose face displayed many emotions at once, looking a little like a deer caught in headlights, her eyes wide, her expression desperate.  “It was an accident.  Danvers had her eyes on the snitch, I was looking behind me for a quaffle pass.  We collided.  It hurt, it sucked, but she caught the snitch fair and square, and it was a complete accident,”  Maggie’s voice was firm and she looked everyone in the eyes as she spoke, looking over all of the Slytherins first, then the Hufflepuffs.  

              “But-” began one of the Slytherins, and she fixed him with her fierce gaze until he closed his mouth, looking a little apprehensive.  

              “Complete accident,” Maggie repeated, as several of the older Slytherins shook their heads, clearly not wanting to believe it, but realizing that if Maggie said it was true, it probably was.  Several of the Hufflepuffs were muttering amongst themselves and Alex looked over at Maggie, feeling a huge rush of gratitude and moved closer to her.

              “Thank you,” she said quietly, shaking her head.  “They were accusing me of cheating, of taking you out on purpose, I thought they were going to start duelling, if you hadn’t come…”

              “Relax, Danvers,” Maggie said, her voice softer now, patting Alex’s arm.  The other students began to disperse, and Maggie smiled up at Alex as they left them behind, standing in the Entrance Hall together.  “I don’t think it was your fault and neither will my House, when I’m through with them.”

              Alex felt so grateful at these words that she wasn’t even sure what to reply at first.  Maggie seemed to understand, taking Alex’s hand and squeezing it again.  Alex smiled at her, and without warning, Maggie got up on her tiptoes and kissed her on the cheek.  Alex’s face was a mask of surprise and she gaped at Maggie, who grinned at her and took her hand.

              “Come on, Danvers.  Your House is waiting to lavish praise on you.  We’ll have time to talk later.”   Still in shocked, Alex nodded and let Maggie pull her forwards, still holding her hand as they entered the Great Hall.  It was decorated in huge golden yellow banners, some depicting a badger, some depicting the Hufflepuff coat of arms, and she could already feel the excitement coming from her housemates.  A deafening cheer erupted from the Hufflepuff table as she approached and her cheeks flushed bright pink, clutching Maggie’s hand tighter out of nerves as they arrived at her table.

              “I’ll see you later, Danvers,” Maggie said, as the entire Hufflepuff team rushed over to her.  Their hands released and Maggie began to walk away when Alex finally found her voice.

              “Is that a promise?” Alex called after her.  Maggie turned, a half-smile on her face, turning into a grin as she looked back at Alex.

              “It’s a date,” Maggie called to her, and Alex’s mind went into overdrive again as she was swept into a massive group hug by her teammates and several others from her House.  She yelped as they hoisted her onto their shoulders and carried her down the table to a spot in the middle, where they clearly wanted her to sit. She caught Maggie’s eye one more time as she was forcibly transported away.   Maggie winked at her and then waved before joining her own team at the Slytherin table.   Alex allowed her friends to pile her plate with all the best foods, barely noticing all the pats on the back and compliments she was receiving.  She just sat there, smiling at everyone, incredibly happy with the world at large at that very moment.


End file.
